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Since I just finished talking about the favorites arcs in my all-time favorite manga, it’s only appropriate I follow up with my favorite arcs (called episodes) from my favorite anime: Monogatari. The Monogatari series has tons of arcs, the light novels and anime are both still ongoing with no end in sight. The various anime and books are in a sense the larger sagas consisting of the episodes by which I mean this: Nisemonogatari, (essentially meaning Fake or False Story) contains the episodes Karen Bee and Tsukihi Phoenix. Bakemonogatari (Monster Tale/Story) contains Hitagi Crab, Mayoi Snail, Sugura Monkey, Nadeko Snake and Tsubasa Cat. You get the idea; I’m not talking about the overarching anime seasons or light novel volumes but the specific episodes within them. The arcs. So let’s start. *******************************SPOILERS********************************* Yotsugi Doll - Part of Tsukimonogatari of the overall series. I thought the anime just made these four episodes just really really run. From the snowball fight with Shinobu and Yotsugi in the background. I like seeing Kagenui, she's really cool and I actually really like how this arc ties into Mayoi Hell later on with Tadatsuru Teori. He was honestly not too interesting here but he comes full circle later so I respect the foundation that they built for him here. Yotsugi is a very interesting character in her own right being who and what she is. This part simply put for me was very run. Koyomi Vamp – Aside from the events surrounding Princess Rola and the long road of Kissshot’s adventures as a vampire, this is where it all begins. The event that changes the course of Koyomi’s life forever. The spring break where he runs into a beautiful vampire and becomes one. He chooses to give up his life and live to save this transcendent, dying, out of this world gorgeous vampire. But instead she doesn’t kill him but as a result he also becomes a vampire. He must retrieve various parts of her being from three powerful vampire hunters in order to “turn him back to a human” and make her whole. This is where we meet Hanekawa Tsubasa in what I believe to be her best showing because aside from her role in Kizumonogatari, she’s not the least bit interesting to me. Oshino Meme makes his entrance here too and I am personally a huge fan of his limited appearances throughout the series. The various fights were dope, especially in the movies, and the final showdown between Kissshot and Koyomi is honesty mind-blowingly crazy. This part as a whole has the best action portions of the entire series. Kissshot is my favorite character and seeing her as the iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire and not just Shinobu Oshino is a treat. Her vulnerabilities of being who she is and ultimately the clash in ideals with Koyomi that leads to a beautiful relationship but not before he creates a situation where no one wins. Shinobu Time – This is the part of the series that made me legit cry when I first watched it. This whole episode is special for a few reasons, Shinobu’s tale of her journey (the more information I get about her the better) and the ending of the arc. A mysterious darkness starts chasing Mayoi and Koyomi around; this entity freaks them out to their very being. It is not an oddity or apparition. It’s a phenomenon. One that Shinobu ran into where she was the King of Apparitions. There was a sequence of coincidences that led a village to worshiping her as a goddess. She became a god but she’s not one, she’s a vampire. In this town she also meets and creates one of the two minions she ever made because he died when the darkness came for her. So long story short, Mayoi is the lost snail and a ghost that was supposed to move on. Her very purpose as an oddity is not being fulfilled and the darkness simple “deletes” oddities that don’t do what they are supposed to do. Meaning Mayoi must move on to the afterlife or just stop existing. She decides to move on and as she fading away, Koyomi and Mayoi do their little shtick one last time which she doesn’t complete. She instead kisses him and passes away. The tears just wouldn’t stop, I was super sad but it was all so moving. Sugura Devil – In the original series that is the story of Araragi and his trials and tribulations along with his friends and foes, this is chronologically the last episode. This is excluding the Off Season and Monster Season, I know there was a timeskip. This takes place in Hanamonogatari where Sugura Kanbaru is the protagonist and narrator. She’s actually one of the best leads the series has; following the events of this episode from her perspective is a treat and welcome change of pace. Kanbaru is now a senior in high school meaning Hitagi and Koyomi have graduated so she’s already dealing with some loneliness off the bat. She then learns about someone called the “Lord of the Devil” taking requests and after some mild investigation, her Rainy Devil arm is gone. After looking into some more, she runs into her old basketball rival Rouka Numachi who’s collecting the parts of the Rainy Devil. I’m not going to go over all the story beats, I’m not here to recap but I do want to talk about what I enjoyed specifically about this arc aside from Kanbaru being the protagonist. I love the final match she has with Numachi and the resolution. I am a huge fan of her running into Kaiki and Kaiki actually out speeding her, something Kanbaru is famous for. Their conversation at dinner where Kaiki is preaching about eating more meat is just a hilarious scene. I also love how long haired Koyomi is reintroduced and how they interact in his car after he finds her sprawled out of the road. Side note, his hair is finally long enough to cover the vampire bite. Mayoi Jiangshi – This truly is one of my favorite portions of the series. Shinobu and Koyomi grow so much closer during this segment and you get to see how much Koyomi means to her. Koyomi decides to go back in time and save Mayoi on the day that she dies. But doing so they created a parallel timeline separate from their own world, where Mayoi grows up and the world is destroyed. By who? Shinobu herself. In the events of this timeline, Araragi Koyomi is killed by Black Hanekawa and as a result Kissshot destroys the world. It’s crazy because in the bleak, despair filled hopelessness of this timeline; we actually get to see what Hachikuji Mayoi would look like grown up. It worked, he saved her here, and she is alive. She hands him a letter by Meme Oshino who like a boss, proceeds to just write down exactly what happened and asks them to save the world. They summon the version Kissshot from this world and she sees WHAT the alternate possibility was had Araragi lived. They’d be closer and together…just knowing that is enough to remove her will to kill and let Shinobu take her blood, save the world and take them back to their original timeline. It’s just a beautiful tale all in all and I love it. Takes place in Kabukimonogatari. Hitagi End – Sengoku Nadeko has become a Snake God and plans on killing her beloved Koyomi-niichan by graduation. He’s tried countless times to save her and stop with Shinobu, but they all fail. Leaving him almost dead every time. Hitagi does the one thing I never thought she’d do but, turns to the very man that was the catalyst for destroying her family: Kaiki Deishuu. And guess what, he’s the narrator! Easily my favorite lead in the whole series because you can’t even always take everything he’s telling us as absolute truth, he’s a liar. But actually seeing the world from his point of view is something I never thought the series would give us. He has an interesting mind. After agreeing to help them out (for Kanbaru’s sake) he goes through one hell of an interesting con plan…the plan? To con a God out of godhood. After a series of complicated and intricate planning and scheming, he ultimately almost fails until he forces her to choose between being a god or her dream: to be a mangaka. And he does the impossible. Araragi shows up and he tells him to leave her alone and then after a conversation with Hitagi, leaves. It ends with him being attacked brutally by some kids he conned earlier in the story and his fate left ambiguous. I think this part of the story holds the most stakes and is the episode with the highest need for success.
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One Piece is currently 890 chapters into its overall story. I thought I’d take a moment to look back and talk about some of my favorite arcs in One Piece (manga only, canon arcs). The narrative can be divided into 9 larger Sagas with smaller arcs that make up a Saga. For example the Alabasta Saga is made up of five arcs in total: Reverse Mountain, Whiskey Peak, Little Garden, Drum Island and eventually the Alabasta arc. All these smaller story parts make up the entire Saga. So, let’s hop right in and talk about my favorite arcs in the series. Honorable mention to Marineford and Alabasta. The Summit War was absolutely incredible with tons of payoff, I loved it, it’s just not one of my personal favorite arcs though it does have some of my favorite moments. Alabasta I love because I like when each Strawhat gets a fight and this arc properly introduces two of my favorite characters: Crocodile and Nico Robin. Zou – This arc is only 23 chapters long but I feel like a lot happened. It’s one of my favorite parts of the New World. We are introduced to the Minks, Jack the Drought (first billion berry bounty), we learn more about Rio Poneglyphs and we get visual conformation of Momonosuke’s important. First of all he’s the son of the previous Shogun of Wano and he can also hear the “Voice of All Things”. This allowed him to understand and control Zunisha. We learn that Nekomamushi and Inuarashi along with Kozuki Oden (the late Shogun) sailed with the Pirate King himself. SO much information was dropped on us during these very few chapters. The Minks are extremely loyal and if you know me, loyalty is a trait I very much admire (this is why I love Jinbei) because Jack came, raised hell and tortured the living crap out of the Minks looking or Raizou and they never gave him up. Lastly is Sanji is forced to leave. Arlong Park – This is a part of the East Blue Saga so this takes place really early, right after Baratie. Here we learn about an entire different species in One Piece, the Fishmen and this arc is inherently very One Piece. A town in danger, sad backstory, nakama that needs help, a seemingly undefeatable foe and a heroic finish. There’s obviously more to a lot of the arcs, but to me this is what One Piece is all about a lot of the times. The flashback about Nami, Nojiko and Belle-Mere is sad as hell. How Arlong completely subjugates Cocoyashi village to do fund his ambitions and kidnap Nami. Forcing Nami to roam the oceans for years trying to raise 100,000,000 Berries in order to free the village. So much crap happened. The moment everything falls apart, after she seemly had betrayed the SHs and starts stabbing and clawing at the Arlong tattoo on her shoulder, Luffy shows up and stops her. And initially she’s angry he’s there, tells him to leave that he doesn’t understand anything and Luffy doesn’t move. She finally breaks down and asks him to please help her and he puts his hat on her head, yells of course he will, walks with the crew to Arlong Park and STEPS ON THAT FISH. Skypiea - This arc is amazing to me because of the grandness and scope of this section of the narrative. It greatly expands the lore and universe of OP. The setting is so unique and absolutely breathtaking. It takes place MILES above the ocean, in the clouds, it’s so surreal. The pure adventuring aspect of a whole new world like this just grabs you and makes you want to explore with the crew. The historical importance of this arc that lies in the background (Calagara and Norland), we see Observation Haki for the first time (called Mantra) and this arc hammers home one of the most important aspects of Devil Fruit battles: matchups. Enel, a powerful Logia who ate the Goro Goro no Mi has a god complex with good reason. He’s essentially living lightning and pretty much invincible because he can lay waste to entire ISLANDS with his thunder. Luffy’s rubber body completely negates just about all of that, rendering Enel’s main way of fighting ineffective. Amazing stuff. The various Sky Island items such as the Dials are also really cool and one particular scene that sticks in my mind is Enel restarting his own heart after taking a Reject Dial from Wiper right to the chest. Underrated arc. Sabaody – Can you believe that the concept of the Worst Generation or the Supernova is something that Oda came up with just one chapter before introducing them? This stuff was crazy, we’re reintroduced to Hachi (in the MAIN story, he had cover page arcs) and we learn about the discrimination of the Fishmen. The Celestial Dragons are introduced here. Luffy has the SECOND highest bounty out of the Supernovas which is insane when you think about Luffy’s accomplishments. Eustass Kidd also has another member of his crew that has a bounty over 100,000,000 Berries like Luffy and Zoro. We’re introduced to another Marine Admiral, the Pastifistas, the PIRATE KING’S RIGHT HAND MAN…are you guys starting to understand? I haven’t even talked about some of the abilities or how Luffy punches the FUCK out of a Celestial Dragon (incredibly satisfying). Of course we can’t talk about this arc without mentioning the fact that Bartholomew Kuma separated the entire crew. This was heartbreaking and if you were reading this around the time it was first published like I did, One Piece went on a two week break after that chapter. I was in real life pain. Impel Down – This arc is just something else man I love this jail break. Luffy finds out Ace has been defeated and puts getting his crew back together on hold in order to save his brother. Here we are reintroduced to Buggy, Crocodile, Betham, Galdino and even Daz Bones. Here we meet Jinbei, Knight of the Sea and even Ivankov who’s part of the Revolutionary Army (works with Luffy’s dad). The jailbreak team is impressive, I like all the action and Magellan is the MvP of that arc. The entire, the entire jail ran from this man, THAT’S how powerful he was. He basically killed Luffy as a matter of fact, he poisoned him so badly Luffy is currently very resistant to poison. Luffy running into the man, the myth, the legend himself Teach who beat Ace was also a powerful moment. From a chapter to chapter basis, page to page, panel to panel, I just enjoyed this arc very much. Enies Lobby – Undisputedly my favorite arc of the series, the Water 7 Saga is just absolutely amazing. The World Government has taken Robin to the judiciary island of Enies Lobby. She willing gave herself up because she wanted her friends to live and the SHs learn this and go after her. Knowing they’d have to defeate Cipher Pol Number 9 otherwise known as CP9. The get to the island and Luffy immediately just RUNS through HUNDREDS of Marine fodder looking for Robin. He runs into Blueno, and for the first time he uses Gear Second and demolishes this man. Not even close. It’s such a great moment see Luffy use a power up form. The SHs catch up and epically walk to where Luffy is standing. Around this time get the flashback with Robin and Ohara. How she suffered for 20 years running from the WG, heartbreaking stuff. She doesn’t at all value her life and insists she wants to die. Luffy screams out to Robin “SAY YOU WANNA LIVE”, she remembers the words of Jaguar D. Saul, her friend from the past and finally in that moment, she values her life enough to fight for it. Enough to loudly scream ,“I WANNA LIVE, PLEASE TAKE ME BACK TO THE SEA WITH YOU.” I was in fucking tears.This is easily the most emotional moment in the series to me, this scene is my all-time favorite scene and every time SINGLE TIME I watch it, I get CHILLS. Everyone else gets their respective one on ones (minus Sogeking), show of their power ups and showcase their abilities resulting in some of the best fights in the series. Luffy defeated Rob Lucci, the crew saves Robin; they give Merry a Viking burial and proceed to wrap up the arc. Garp, Coby, Dragon name drop, new bounties for everyone, a new ship and a new member.
What are your favorite One Piece arcs, hit me up on twitter and let me know or tell me in the comments here. Hanekawa isn't on this list. If you like her, you gotta go. Sengoku isn't here either so go on and get. Kanbaru Sugura – First of all let’s get this out the way…Kanbaru is straight up is crossing and then dunking on any character you like. I really like Kanbaru because she’s one of the most sexually free characters I’ve seen in fiction. She’s completely 100% comfortable with her sexuality and such that it might be off putting to other people but she’s just being her truest self. She’s one of the few people I believe have extremely entertaining back and forths with Koyomi. Their convos are typically really lewd and dirty but I love it. She was an excellent protagonist in the Hanamonogatari portion of the overall series and she’s got that sexy sports body to boot. Hachikuji Mayoi – My cute little lost snail. I personally believe she’s the character that has the most interesting dialogue with Koyomi. Easily. She leads him into traps, makes fun of him, gives him great advice, they have their awesome quips and they reference tons of anime. I love it, she’s is and isn’t mature for her age which is always funny to me. One of my favorite arcs is Mayoi Jiangshi when we get to see Mayoi in an alternate timeline all grown up. Theoretically, if I had a heart, seeing her grown up would warm my heart. “The courage to ask a girl to see her panties!” Araragi Koyomi – The character I relate to the most. He’s a lot like me except he’s short, good at math, in love with his sisters and a lolicon. Otherwise we’re actually pretty similar. Most of his friends are women, he’s got a lowkey harem, he’s a big brother and he takes care of his own. I very much enjoy his inner monologues and seeing how he makes little adjustments in his mannerisms depending on the person. His relationship with Hitagi is also very important to me. Deishuu Kaiki – One of the more unique and interesting beings I’ve seen in fiction. He’s got so many lines that are great quotes. See Kaiki is a ghostbuster of sorts but he’s a fake. He doesn’t even believe in the supernatural, the man is a con artist that does anything for money. In Nisemonogatari, there was a huge build up leading up to the cast confronting Kaiki and its purposely anticlimactic. He just agrees to leave when the time comes. He does so and even has a snark remark about life not always being so dramatic. The fake is of far greater value. In its deliberate attempt to be real, it's more real than the real thing. Senjougahara Hitagi – Hitagi is a self-aware, crazy tsundere that loves Koyomi. She gives off multiple personality traits at her whim (she does it willingly) and her interactions with Koyomi are top 3. She once referred to him as trash. She’s had a difficult past, she was almost sexually assaulted, her mom made the family bankrupt by joining a cult, she was weightless for a few year but she’s come a long way. You can see her progression at being more understanding and for me it starts with the night out with Koyomi near the planetarium. Comes full circle during Hitagi Rendezvous. So cute and so is she. Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade – Rola, Acerola, Oshino Shinobu, Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. She goes by many names. One of my all-time favorite fictional characters. The king of apparitions. She was a cursed princess, then a wondering vagabond turned vampire and she was even a goddess at one point. She’s got a rich and long history during her 598 year life. The way she speaks is elegant, her love for donuts is hilarious, and her relationship with Koyomi is intriguing and she the most stunning character in the series. It’s almost ephemeral. Especially in her full form, her elegant royal beauty mixed with her vampire ferocity makes for one sexy babe. She has a few of my favorite arcs and she’s the most experienced character in the series.
Shout out to Kagenui and Yotsugi, I really like those two as well. One Piece is a manga created by. Eiichiro Oda. It’s about a boy named Monkey D. Luffy, who wants to become something called King of the Pirates which he can achieve by finding the legendary treasure called the One Piece. He was inspired as a child by a man named Shanks who is a renowned pirate. The previous Pirate King was a man named Gold Roger who had attained everything the world had to offer (money, fame and power), and before his death, he said that if they wanted his treasure they could have it if they found it. He smiled in death being proud of whom he was and his words started what is called the Age of the Pirates. Monkey D. Luffy travels the oceans of the world, fighting many enemies along with his crew, in order to achieve all their dreams and find the One Piece.
The Straw Hat crew currently consists of nine pirates as of this moment. Each Straw Hat has a role on the ship and a thematic role. The story still isn’t done, it’s ongoing with a new chapter and episode released each week. It’s a deceptively deep and complex story with lots of sub plots, cool characters, themes and very original settings. One of the most intriguing things about the One Piece universe are these things called Devil Fruits. People who eat Devil Fruits gain supernatural abilities but at the cost of never being able to swim. It’s inherently interesting because most of the story takes place on the ocean and there are so many Devil Fruit users meaning there are tons of marines and pirates at sea that can’t swim. Some ideologies and themes that are explored in the One Piece manga are treasure, justice, oppression, discrimination, slavery, government corruption, and religion. Treasure to most pirates is simply gold, silver, jewels or flashy expensive objects. But they are characters that suggest that treasure is so much more than just money. It’s really anything you’re not willing to give up without putting up a fight or protecting it to the end for whatever reason. Whether it’s a sentimental reason, a promise or because something or someone just mean a lot to that person. For example Luffy’s strawhat has no monetary value and it’s not very flashy or worth much. But when the man he idolized gave him that hat they made a promise to each other. Meaning Luffy will protect his promise with Shanks and the strawhat because he treasures it. Justice is a term really only used by the marines and like how pirates form their own way of living life (some pirates aren’t evil they just want to be free, while other are evil and blood thirsty) marines develop their own concept of justice. Justice being a much debated philosophical topic. There are some who indeed deal with pirates and criminals accordingly in One Piece, while sometimes when a dangerous pirate is caught in order to erase the evil from the seas that pirate may get sent straight to jail without a trail. Or simply executed. There are signs or extreme corruption coming from within the marines and World Government meant who are suppose to be the good guys. Noble, honorable justice. Absolute Justice and Dark Justice are the harshest justices in the world of One Piece where in order to save 200 lives they’ll take away 500 and destroy everything in their path. For example if the marines really want a pirate captured and that pirate is in a populated area of innocent civilians, the marine may kill everything in their way in order to get the pirate. It’s known as sacrificing the few to save the many. One Piece shows the relationship between the crew members very well. Simply by the way they interact with one another, laugh, joke around and trust each other in battle. When they are just on the ship, each person can talk and relate to other members in their own way. Zoro and Sanji have a rivalry with one another, yet respect one another very much. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper being the youngest are seen often playing. There is a part where Nami warns the crew that a storm is coming, and another ship is heading into it. Without Luffy having to say it, Nami already knows that he wants her to warn them about the incoming storm. This shows how much trust that they have amongst each and how they understand one another. They don’t even have to say things out loud sometimes because they have an in sync chemistry that allows them to function as a team without words. I also want to add the reassuring feeling the crew members get when Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are involved in a serious battle. Another think that's really good about One Piece are the flashback, backstories and characterization. For example Tony Tony Chopper and Dr. Hiluluk. Chopper is a reindeer that ate a Devil Fruit known as the Human Human Fruit. With the fruit's power, he was able to learn English and even stand on two feet. This caused him to be ostracized by his reindeer pack. Not to mention he had a blue nose. So instead he takes on his humanoid form and goes to live with humans…..but they shoot at him calling him a monster. Neither humans nor reindeers wanted to anything to do with this “beast” and he began to feel alone. A man who is a quack doctor, who used to be a notorious criminal walks by a wounded Chopper. In defense Chopper attacks the man. The man throws off all his clothes and weapons reassuring the beast that he was a friend and was there to help him. This is how Chopper meets his first friend. This relationship is explored brilliantly throughout the movie. From Chopper being fed for the first time, and the kindness shown to him by the Doctor. They become very good friends, as they do all sorts of stuff together. Unfortunately due to a series of unfortunate events, Dr. Hiluluk loses his life. Chopper holds him in high regards, and has nothing but love and respect for the man. Even after death they have a close bond. I don't want to go too in depth and spoil everything because I think you should go into this story unaware of what to expect because it's unpredictable and it is long. It's a commitment but it's NOT a race. Don't rush, take your time, enjoy it at your own pace and eventually one day, you will be caught up. There's a reason why this series is so popular and I hope you all enjoy it. Don't be intimidated by it's length. Have fun. Since the last time I made one of these lists, I beleive back in 2015, I've seen a ton of anime movies. Some good, some bad but here's a short list of the ones I think are worthwhile for one reason or another. Kizumonogatari Movies – Koyomi Vamp, chronologically the beginning of the Monogatari series (as it pertains to Araragi). These three movies tell the story of how Araragi Koyomi became the oddity that he is and his run in with the king of apparitions. Napping Princess – An interesting movie where dreams and the real world gets blurred and mixed up. A regular girl who’s a princess in her dreams tries to save her dad. Your Name – A Comix Wave Film and Makoto Shinkai movie. Already you should know that visually, it’ll blow most anime out of the water. As for the movie itself, simply put, it’s Freaky Friday, in Japan with two high school teens (a boy and a girl). Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV - This is the prequel to the Final Fantasy XV game. About how Insomnia fell and how the king perished. Animation is fantastic. A Silent Voice – The main character bullies the new girl who is deaf…as a result she ends up leaving and he becomes the subject of bulling. Timeskip to highschool and he runs into the very girl he used to bully… Blame – An interesting adaptation of a beloved manga. I don’t think the animation is very great but I think it’s worth a watch. One Film: Gold – The Strawhats must defeat Gild Tesero and save Zoro, after losing in a huge gambling wage. Will the SHs defeat the Monster of the New World in his own territory? Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel - Presage Flower - The final route of the Fate/Stay Night narrative. Probably the most intense and darkest path of the three, watch Ufotable beautifully animate a portion of this Holy Grail War. Anthem of the Heart - Long story short it's about a girl who's words hurt the people around her and thus her ability to talk is sealed away...but not her ability to sing. So it's about her trials an tribulations of essentially being a mute in her school, community and family environments. Psycho Pass Movie – The final installment of this series (at this point). I shouldn’t really have to explain this, if you watched the anime, watch the movie. If not, start with the anime then watch the movie. The Case of Hana & Alice - The animation and style is not for everyone but it's good. The story is about a girl who moves into a new school and sits at a desk where a previous student passed away. So they don't immediately treat the new kid nicely so, she decides to solve the mystery of how and why this student dies. Fusé: Memoirs of a Huntress - Fuse are these humanoid beings that can eat orbs from humans. The main character and her brother hunt them. Story of understanding and acceptance. In This Corner of the World - A historical drama that takes place a decade before and after Japan is hit with an atomic bomb. Follow Suzu, a young girl who loves drawing and see how she deals with living in this time period. Expelled from Paradise - Most of humanity has chosen to digitize themselves to live in a virtual world because a massive disaster hits earth. This world is hacked so the system sends Angela to earth in a physical body to find the hacker. Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade - Kazuki (suffering from trauma) goes to retrain himself with the Capital Polices Special Unit after he sees a young girl suicide bomb herself. He meets this girl's older sister and gets caught up in a dispute between different police forces. Colorful (Movie) - "She/He" was kicked out the reincarnation cycle for committing a sin. Given another chance, "she/he forcibly inhabits 14 Makoto who attempted suicide. In this body, "they" must learn what their sin was or risk never existing again. The Empire of Corpses - In a different version of the 18th century, Victor Frankenstein perfectly reanimated a dead body with a soul but that creation was destroyed. In the 19th century people can reanimate corpse but not with a soul. Did I mention this includes John Watson and Sherlock Holmes? Harmony - Thanks to medical nanotechnology, the world has achieved Utopia through super medicine. Three girls stand up to this new totalitarian world by attempting suicide via starvation but the main character lives, grows up, joins the WHO and tries to save the world. Miss Hokusai - Story of a famous artist and his daughter who is more talented than him. Apparently the artist was real and this is somewhat of a historical retelling of the truth behind his masterpieces (it was the daughter). Kiki's Delivery Service - A Ghibli movie about a Witch's coming of age adventure into the real world to find herself. A personal favorite movie of mine from the studio.
That's all....goodbye!! Hoh boy...looks like I'm really doing this. But I've been sitting on making this list long enough. Before I begin I just want to say a few things. First of all, do not take my list for the absolute truth. These are my thoughts and opinions. I'm 100% certain that I'm wrong for the most part but I'm just using what I know to make a top 30 strongest OP characters. One Piece strength varies and there's so many different kinds of fighting styles. Some people are tanks, some are fast, some have great Haki ability, some are all rounders. For example, Crocodile isn't a brawler but his Devil Fruit mastery is how he fights. Blackbeard has two DF powers and while powerful, he's slow. Doflamingo was well rounded, Mihawk is a swordsman etc. So when it comes to fighting styles, abilities and matchups, like Crocodile said, you never know how two abilities will interact (Galdino's wax vs Magellan's poison). Also just holding the same title or rank like Vice Admiral doesn't mean all VA are equal. So take all of that into consideration. Just because a character is ranked higher or lower than someone doesn't mean they can't lose to another person higher or lower than them on this list. Matchups matter. Lastly, I need to go through some honorable mentions who I believe are absolutely top 30 but because of lack of information, I can't in good faith place them on this list. I just don't know enough. Monkey D. Dragon - If Sabo is his number two, I can at least assume the most wanted criminal in the world is stronger. He is of the Monkey bloodline, he's a D, the son of the Hero of the Marines and father of Luffy. That all being said I haven't seen him in action at all, I can't place him. Green Bull - He/She is an Admiral so of COURSE they're top tier but again, I don't even know what they look like so, I gotta hold off on this character. Kong - Another impressive Marine that was once Fleet Admiral and is currently the World Government Commander and Chief. He was and technically still is the superior of characters like Sengoku, but again, haven't seen him do anything. Gorosei - These old fucks run the world, I know they got hands but all they do is sit around and talk. Lastly shoutout to Edward Weevil and Enel who just barely missed my top 30. Now, shall we begin? P.S: No dead characters. Gotta be alive. 30. Rob Lucci – He’s here purely out of respect. He’s a Master Rokushiki user and since his defeat on Enies Lobby hes come a long way. He now leads CP0. He’s gotten stronger and I believe him to be one of the WGs strongest. But until I hear or see some feats, he’s staying at 30. 29. Urouge – Ma D. Monk!! He’s here because he took out Snack, one of Big Mom’s Sweet Commanders and managed to escape from Cracker afterwards. Now I don't know the circumstances, maybe it was a group effort with his crew kind of how Nami AND Luffy took down Cracker but, I'll respect the feat. 28. Tsuru – This one is purely my gut telling me not to sleep on her. And to be honest, I think I'm doing her a disservice putting her this low. Tsuru is a Marine veteran who is close with Sengoku and Garp. Those two are the only Marines that call her Tsuru-chan and while non canon, they were shown as a trio as upcoming marines in film Z. She was present in fending off Jack when he came to get Doffy. She’s definitely out of her prime but I believe she’s top tier. 27. Trafalgar Water D. Law – Law has the most broken ability in the series which would be useless in the hands of many. The fact that he’s a competent doctor makes him dangerous with the Ope Ope no Mi. He was trained by the Donquixote Pirates high ranking members, he’s extremely cunning and Law is a D. Top 4 Supernovas, ex Shichibukai. Nuff’ said. 26. Eutass Captain Kidd – The series I feel has been building up Kidd to be the Supernova rival of Luffy. He was the only SN with a higher bounty than Luffy, his personality is reckless like Luffy, but ruthless. Moreover he has a crew member that was also a Supernova along with the captain (Killer). I think Kidd’s magnetic ability is powerful and even though he got washed by Kaido, it’s KAIDO. No Supernova was touching Kaido. 25. Monkey D. Luffy – I do believe Luffy is the strongest Supernova. He’s a great practitioner of Haki and also has Conqueror's Haki. Ultimately, it’s Luffy, I don’t need to really say much but Luffy’s Gear Fourth is massively powerful. It jumps him up a few tiers from his baseform BUT, he has a stamina issue. He’s pushing his Haki to their limits and burns out. Because of that I can’t put him any higher right now. 24. Charlotte Cracker - I feel like I might get some hate for Cracker being low but, I wasn't very impressed. I know he's formidable, his Biscuits are durable, he's a pretty sneaky fighter and he IS a Sweet Commander. But he has a glass jaw like every Fairy Tail antagonist. He doesn't like pain and as a result he has some of the lowest durability I've seen for a high ranking character. His Armament Haki was pretty impressive, he hacked through Gear Fourth but I just can't rank him any higher guys. 23. Donquixote Doflamingo – One of best all around characters in the series. Bloodline, Haki, DF Mastery, combat, military might, intellect, air combat…he has a lot going for him. It took the combined strategical teamwork of Law, Luffy AND Gatz hiding away Luffy to take this man down. Took internal damage from Gamma Knife and stitched his organs back together. Man is a beast and yes, I think he can defeat Cracker in a one on one. Also Conqueror's Haki. 22. Charlotte Smoothie – I honestly had a hard time with Smoothie because she hasn’t done much. She kinda washed Reiju, we’ve seen her ability and she can juice poison out her body. Based on the fact Cracker has a lower bounty and Katakuri has a higher bounty than her, I think it’s safe to place her combat prowess between them. I really wanted to just leave her off but I think I have just enough to make a decent guess on how powerful she is. 21. Jack the Drought – The reason Jack isn’t any higher is because I think he’s the weakest Calamity. And while to a degree, everything he has done is impressive, all he’s done so far is lose. He got stalled by the Minks, failed to get Doflamingo and then got smacked into the sea by Zunisha. I mean he IS underwater and alive so you gotta give him some credit but that’s all the credit I’ll give him. Also 1 Billion Berry bounty. 20. Boa Hancock – Hancock ended up being a little higher than I initially intended but hear me out. Every showing of Hancock versus anyone she was against has ended in her complete and utter victory. She tagged Smoker in his Smoke form, pretime skip when it was impressive. She's so damn gorgeous that men and women have to still their hearts, or use other means like pain to resist her (VA Momonga). Amazon Lily warriors are all extremely well versed Haki Users and she is their Queen. She possesses Haoshoku Haki as well. From what we’ve seen her combat skills mixed with her ability to turn people into stone are a deadly combo. I think Boa is a top tier Warlord and combatant. 19. Sabo – The Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army. A powerful Haki user, second to Dragon and now the owner of Ace’s Mera Mera no Mi. I think Sabo’s pretty powerful, and he IS the number 2 to Dragon. I think that his Devil Fruit will make him more formidable in the long run, but he’s got to get used to it. I think he’s a little weaker right now because he’s unaccustomed to being a Logia. Plus he needs to be aware of all the weaknesses that come with being a Devil Fruit user. 18. Charlotte Katakuri – Aside for Enel, who showed excellent proficiency in Observation Haki but excels in presence, Katakuri is the best Observation Haki user we’ve seen who specializes in prediction. He’s so good at it that he can see into the near future, something we haven’t seen any other character use. Despite this, I think out of all the Yonko right hands/second in command whatever you want to call it, I think he’s the weakest. I think he’s got high stats in every category but the thing that makes him the most dangerous is his Observation. Katakuri is undefeated though. 17. Shiki the Golden Lion – This might be my own head canon here but, if you are one the pirates in the same class as Roger and Whitebeard, you’re powerful. It took Sengoku and Garp to take him down. He was the fist Impel Down escapee and it’s not like he snuck out. He removed his legs, asked Vice Warden Hannyabal for his swords, took them, and then left. I don’t recall if Magellan had Shirlew imprisoned by then but if they were both out and about, he potentially escaped when the both were active. He’s been inactive for two decades and lost his legs so I think he’s a lot weaker so while he’s a renowned pirate from Roger's era, I wont jerk him too hard. 16. Magellan – He was the Chief Warden of Impel Down…the place where all the dangerous criminals are locked up INCLUDING LEVEL 6 criminals. Scum so vile and evil they’ve been erased from history. During Impel Down, no one was able to take him down, they all had to run from him. He was betrayed by his former coworker and then ganged up on by the Blackbeard Pirates. That’s how he was defeated. 15. Shiliew of the Rain – The former Head Jailer of Impel Down. It was said that him and Magellan were equal but Shiliew's ruthlessness to prisoners landed him in Level 6. Master of stealth, excellent swordsman and a calm demeanor, this man is dangerous. He is one of Blackbeard’s Ten Titanic Captains, he commands the second ship/fleet which leads me to believe he’s second in command to BB. Him sailing the New World trying to make Teach the new Yonko has surely increased his power so Shiiliew>Magellan. 14. Silvers Rayleigh – Might get some hate for this one but I think Rayleigh is not only out his prime, he’s retired from piracy. So he’s kind of just taking it easy. That being said, he’s fucking powerful. Conqueror’s Haki, stopped Kizaru, taught Luffy Haki and Rayleigh SWAM through the CALM BELT to get to Amazon Lily. That’s ridiculous. This was Gold Roger’s right hand man, you know he’s that dude. 13. Marco the Phoenix – Once the second in command to Whitebeard, Marco is now the captain of that crew. I think pushing him to be captain has given him more ambition and that leadership role has pushed him to be stronger in the two years since we saw him. I know they lost to the Blackbeard Pirates but crew for crew, after losing Ace, Whitebeard and Jozu lost an arm. I don’t think it was realistic to expect them to win. 12. Dracule Mihawk – The World’s Greatest Swordsman. Used to spar with Shanks, rolls around without a crew. This man cannot be taken lightly. I think the fact he is literally the best at something is hella serious but there are so many ways to fight that doesn't include a sword. So I won't highball Mihawk too much but I can't lowball him either. This position feels about right. 11. Ben Beckman – I personally believe that out of all the current right hands to any pirates, including the Yonko, Benny is the strongest one. He had Kizaru who is light, photons, shook with a mere gun. He’s the second in command of the Red Hair Pirates led by Shanks so I gotta just put respect on his name. 10. Sengoku the Buddha – We're hitting that top ten and I think Sengoku is a top tier Marine. I think he’s weaker than Garp but just as powerful, they have a great working relationship and teamed up to take down Shiki. He was the Fleet Admiral and known as a tactician. He looked liked he aged a shit ton in these two years though. 9. Monkey D. Garp – The Hero of the Marines. The only Marine to ever corner the Pirate King Gold D Roger. Father of the Revolutionary Dragon and grandfather of Luffy. Only reason I don't have him over the current Admirals and Kuzan is age. But there really isn't any character I believe Garp can't beat. 8. Issho – Fujitora has the power of gravity, is a Marine Admiral, can see with Haki and can summon meteors. Good talk. 7. Kuzan – Aokiji is impressive but I had to lower him a bit because of the injuries he sustained from his battle with Sakazuki. This dude was so unafraid of falling into the sea that he rode a bike across the ocean. Dude went to work at Marineford, had Doffy shook and he was a Marine Admiral. He permanently changed the climate of half an island. 6. Borsalino – I think people underestimate how fast and powerful Kizaru is. Photons, he is light. He can't move at light speed at all times plus I believe light travels in a straight line but he’s taken out Supernovas without them being able to react. He can use a light sword and has massive destructive capabilities. He's a top notch Marine with what I believe to be the best Logia element. 5. Marshall D. Teach – Blackbeard is definitely Yonko level at this point but he’s kind of still on the come up and breaking that Yonko entry level. So that’s why he isn’t quite top 4 but he will be. Wounded Shanks’ eye pre Yami Yami no Mi, took one hell of a beating from Impel Down to Marineford and kept scraping, he defeated Ace and he has two Devil Fruit powers. He also planned out a lot of this so he’s not a complete moron even though he’s goofy. Can negate DF powers on contact. 4. Charlotte Lin Lin – Big Mom is here outta respect, I’m not impressed with her but, she is a Yonko and her ability is broken bla bla bla. Number four. 3. Sakazuki – Akainu is the most dangerous Marine right now. He’s a ruthless pirate hunter with a magma Logia. He defeated Aokiji after a long ten day battle on Punk Hazard and permanently changed half the island into fire. He is the new Fleet Admiral and I saw him put up a fantastic fight against WB, endure his attacks then continue his relentless chase for Luffy afterwards. BB ran from Akainu even after getting Whitebeard’s Gura Gura no Mi. He’s dangerous. 2. Red Hair Shanks – One arm and no Devil Fruit. HAKI GAWD. This man used to be on Gold Rogers crew, entrusted with Rogers Strawhat and used to spar with Mihawk. His clash with Whitebeard split the heavens…those with weak willpower will faint around him. I also think his calm, laid back kind of nature gives him a much more level head than the other Yonko. 1. Hundred Beasts Kaido - Kaido of the Beasts…Strongest Creature in the World. People often say: "If it's one-on-one, Kaido will win." On land, sea, and air... among all living things, he is a pirate who is known as the "strongest creature." This man jumped from a Sky Island and shrugged if off with maybe a slight headache. I honestly don’t feel any need to justify his placement here any further.
And that's the list people, I would like to see your personal top 30 lists or just tell me how stupid I am. One final note is that I also wanted to add Kuma but he doesn't have control of his own body and mind anymore. I think that makes him weaker and possibly unable to use Haki since its not his own will. But anyways, happy new year folks. We've been making significant progress through WCI and I just wanted to take a moment to start a discussion around the only thing I find lackluster this arc. But before that understand this. I love this arc, I am loving this arc overall and I think it's one of the best post timeskip arcs. That being said, personally, there is one aspect or I suppose character that is currently letting me down. That person is Charlotte Lin Lin, otherwise known as Big Mom.
Hear me out. I am aware that this current Big Mom is weaker and the odds are stacked against her. I get all of that and I'll get into the specifics later. But ultimately, this Big Mom stuff is letting me down. This is a YONKO, one of the seas 4 most powerful pirates. That being said it is actually possible that maybe Big Mom is the weakest Yonko out of the current four. One thing I've always loved about One Piece is that rank, status, position, and/or bounty aren't ever a true indication of someone's capabilities. Just because two people are Shichibukai doesn't make them equal. Katakuri is a Sweet Commander and Jack is a Calamity. Both are top ranking Yonko crew members and that doesn't mean they are the same level. The Vice Admirals power vary like crazy. I never know when a VA is going to be impressive, fodder or decent. Maybe not all long Yonko are created equally? But back on topic I think maybe she's the weakest Yonko. The cool thing about this arc I like a lot is also hurting it and that's how involved Big Mom is. Initially I thought she'd take a back seat during the arc and let her subordinates do most of the heavy lifting but she's out and about. But because of that, Oda is being forced to write these contrivances to hinder, weaken or put BM at an disadvantage so that she doesn't run through everyone. Off the bat Big Mom isn't too bright. She isn't unintelligent, we know this because she has a pretty good information network and understands how various political marriages would benefit her. But mentally, she's just not impressive. This is made even worse when she goes on her hunger rampages, she's not all there upstairs and the longer she goes without the required item the weaker she gets. At this current point Big Mom has been starving for 8 hours, is skinny, Nami has the means to control Zeus, Brook can hurt Homies and Jinbei has the ocean to his advantage (which BM is surrounded by as a DF User. There is literally like six different plot devices working against Big Mom and because of this I RELUCTANTLY accept that they are fending her off but it's not a good look. I truly feel like the Strawhats kinda ran up in Yonko territory and are going to leave pretty much without any consequence. Big Mom could possibly eat the Wedding Cake and passout. I just feel like this isn't what I'd expect from a Yonko. I understand the forces working against her so whether or not you are okay with these events, I get each side. But consider this. Imagine this was Shanks and he was like hungover or something thus causing him to have trouble with Brook & Nami. You guys wouldn't like that. But in summation, I still like this arc, it's fun but I just personally find the writing surrounding Big Mom to be pretty wonky. I expect more from a Yonko. I thought it'd be kind of fun to list off some of my favorite One Piece girls. I like A LOT of them but when I combine their looks, abilities and personalities these would be my favorite 6. Honorable mention to Nami, that's my navigator and shout out to Nojiko but they just barely didn't make my top 6. With that being said, let us begin. 6. Koala - Ex slave, freed by Fisher Tiger now turned Revolutionary. She spent time with the Sun Pirates and after being returned homed, she eventually joined Dragon, Sabo etc. She's the only human that we know of capable of using Gyojin Karate. I'd love to really see her in action. I also ship her with Sabo. 5. Perona - I love her design, Gothic Lolita fashion is something I've always been fond of. Her ability is actually pretty broken and resulted in some extremely funny moments. Her fight with Usopp was hilarious and I like that in the end she ended up with Mihawk and Zoro. Persona's cool. 4. Viola - I think Violet (Viola) is one of the best looking One Piece girls overall. She's strong with a pretty neat ability. She's suffered through Doflamingo's rule, lost so much and stayed strong. She's also going to be the future Queen of Dressrosa since Rebecca stepped down to live with Kyros. She fine. 3. Boa Hancock - One of the character switch flips that occurred in the series that I found entertaining. Her disdain for Luffy turning in to love was one of my favorites. Boa is the Empress of Amazon Lily, a top tier Haki user that also has Conqueror's Haki. She's one the series most powerful characters who's beauty is legendary. Let's just hope by the end, she can bag Luffy. 2. Vinsmoke Reiju - Sanji's big sister and the only Vinsmoke not named Sanji that I like, love even. She's the only one who ever cared about Sanji and cared for him. Ultimately she was the one who set him free. Poison Pink Reiju was able to ingest poison strong enough to almost kill Luffy (with his poison resistance). I think Reiju is beautiful. 1. Nico Robin - When you combine intelligence, personality, ability and beauty together, there's just no way I don't pick Robin every time. She's been one of my overall favorite One Piece characters for nearly a decade. She's skilled in assassination, knowledgeable, a fantastic archaeologist and she has come a LONG way since her childhood. She even has comedic moments now! Best girl.
One Piece Chapter 883 just dropped and I've been rereading this Dogtooth vs Luffy fight over and over. Luffy finally got a hit in on Dogtooth and claimed he knows his weakness. We KNOW water works well against Mochi (and honestly generally speaking most Devil Fruits, sea water specifically). But I'm pretty sure I know what Dogtooth's "weakness" is. I owe it to Death Note. So let's just get to the point. Sugar. The answer is sugar. Dogtooth's "Clairvoyant" Observation Haki works because he's pushing his brain to it's utmost limit. This is not only tiresome, but in order to keep using this power, he needs to refuel on sugar. L Lawliet from Death Note consumed insane amounts of sugar in order to keep his brain functionality optimal. Sugar is good for the brain (not TOO much). Same thing applies here with Dogtooth. Think about it. He has snack time the SAME time daily and he specifies that he's eating for the SUGAR. Didn't you find it odd that this man was missing Luffy so many times during their fight? I thought Luffy was just dodging but I'm not so sure. I believe in Luffy, that's my boy but I think because Dogtooth is overexerting himself, the precision of his predictions are off. He was 40 minutes late for his daily snack time after all.
The reason Luffy go his hit in is because Dogtooth didn't get to eat enough sweets to get his That's So Raven powers up and running. He also stated he was stressed and irritated. Why? He pushing himself too hard and desperately needs to finish off Luffy so he can eat. What do you guys think of my little theory here? Yes or no? And why. Let's talk about a trope in shounen battle manga (anime) that I actually like (yes there are tropes I DO enjoy). In a battle manga, there's generally a character archetype that we call the "badass". They're usually a rival or act independently from the main cast and it's not uncommon for them to be stronger or as strong as the main character. Some examples are Zaraki Kenpachi, Vegeta, Hidetora Toujou, Hibari Kyoya or like Zebra from Toriko. That should give you an idea of what kind of character I'm talking about. I tend to like these characters to some degree when they're handled properly. There's one character in recent years that comes to mind that is such a fantastic example of this character archetype. Escanor from Nanatsu no Taizai. This man just brings the HYPE, he's got such a strong presence and I think Suzuki handles him perfectly. First of all, he's the last of the Sins that gets introduced, in a side story, pretty deep into the narrative. Secondly when we see him, he looks like a weak, frail man and he's pathetic. Right there, as a reader you kinda don't bother with him at that point. All of a sudden the next time we see him, he's not only going up against the main antagonist, Escanor's demeanor is completely different. He's bigger, confident and demands an apology from his enemy. Huh? He then proceeds to complete embarrass his foe with ease leaving us in complete awe. Escanor is the Sins X-factor, secret weapon. He's the weakest and the strongest member. You see, as the sun begins to rise, Escanor's power rise and his personality changes into a extremely prideful, powerful man. As the sun sets he weakens, becomes cowardly and less confident. It's called Sunshine. When the sun reaches high noon, at it's peak, he's virtually indestructible. Anytime you see Escanor on screen, expect something badass, cool and or epic to go down. He never disappoints. First time we see Escanor in the main story is when Ban was faced with impossible odds. Demons from the Demon Clan that were once lead by Meliodas are on his ass. He runs into Escanor at a bar. These two demons had already proven themselves to be formidable. Galan picks on the weak frail Escanor but, the sun is rising. Galan tries to wield Escanor's Holy Weapon, but finds it awkward and heavy to hold with two hands. Escanor then casually takes his axe back and states that the axe is meant to be held with one hand. Galan asks him if he's even human to which our boy replies " I assure you I am human. I am the very pinnacle of my species." Long story short, he makes quick work of both demons with out even breaking a sweat. Godlike. What I like about that situation is that the demons first arrive when it's night and even when it's morning, we don't know how high the sun is. Not to mention there's two demons here who just kind of embarrassed Ban. The next awesome Escanor moment would come and he ends up badly injuring two demons with one attack before reverting to his frail self. His next moment to shine is quite possibly the greatest moment in the manga. The main character was defeated and killed by Estarossa. A powerful demon who looked up to their leader once upon a time. Even with Ban stealing his power it didn't even slow Estarossa down. The demons take over and Estarossa ability causes anyone who feels any hatred towards him incapable of moving. He just killed their captain and the demons are running amok. How could you not feel some type of hate towards this man? Boom, a foot in the panel clad in armor, pan upwards and you see Escanor in full armor walk right up to Estarossa, unaffected by his curse because, "he only feels pity for those beneath him." Possibly one of the best fights in the manga. Escanor actually starts off the fight taking damage, thus making us feel that maybe, this will be the one guy who could take him. There's a part where Escanor strikes Estarossa and has his own attack countered. He responded by saying it only makes sense that an attack by him would cause him to feel pain, unfazed. So yeah he went on to burn that demon into a crisp, even evaporating an entire lake in the process.
In Escanor's most recent fight he had to fight Medolias at full power, devoid of his emotion like how he used to be 3000 years ago. The question of who's stronger would finally get answered and let me tell you, that was the best fight of 2017. Escanor was finally pushed to his utmost limits in this fight, he couldn't really do anything to Medolias until high noon where his power peaks and proceeded to strike Medolias down with one attack. It was great, he is great and I hope to see more awesomeness from this man. My favorite modern embodiment of the badass archetype. |
AuthorNyamekye Hemmings Archives
January 2022
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